Less than one in 10 obey 30km city speed limit

Galway Advertiser, Thu, Apr 07, 2011

Fewer than 10 per cent of motorists obey the 30km/h speed limit introduced by Dublin City Council last year, according to a new survey by Continental Tyres.

Carried out with the help of Tele-Traffic, suppliers of laser speedgun technology, the Continental Tyres survey found that only nine vehicles out of 100 surveyed were travelling at 30km/h or less. The highest speed recorded in the survey – which covered all vehicle types including cars, motor bikes, vans, trucks and buses – was a van travelling at 58km/h, nearly twice the permitted speed.

Continental Tyres suggests the high number of speeding vehicles could be attributed to the lack of signs informing drivers of the speed limit. While lauding the safety motivation behind the introduction of the 30km/h limit, Continental Tyres believes the lack of any speed limit signage is an issue that needs to be addressed.

Paddy Murphy, general manager of Continental Tyres Ireland, said: “It is disappointing to see such a level of disregard for the 30km/h limit and consequently we would suggest the city council look at reviewing the issue.

“A key safety implication of the high rate of non-observance is where speeding drivers find themselves suddenly behind a car that is observing the limit, the speeding driver is then required to hit the brakes and very often drivers seriously overestimate the stopping ability of their car. For example, at 50km/h, an average car on good tyres in good weather conditions will take almost 24 metres (six car lengths ) to stop. And if the road is wet, or perhaps if tyres are worn or damaged, the stopping distance would be a whole lot longer,” concluded Murphy.

The 30km/h speed limit zone comprises a large section of Dublin city centre, including the quays between Ormond and Eden Quays north of the Liffey and Wellington and Burgh quays on the southern side.